Railway brake gear bottom rod guard

ABSTRACT

A safety guard for supporting a railway brake gear bottom rod in the event of failure of its normal support. The guard is made in two pieces readily assembled and disassembled to facilitate its application to and removal from a brake beam.

[4 Nov. 21, 1972 United States Patent Spaeth 00000 11111 22222 800888888800 J Hu eu lmym nee S mm? CSSSN 29773 34556 99999 11111 7 466 102903 0460 ,3 78852 68899 2223 v. n a D. M m m C T o 0 g B a m @m E .m mG R P E D. K S A J s n D .m a BR W V YA I. E AU r W m m ID m .W A0 m sRR I A 4 U H P31 7 7 Plymouth, Mich.

Dec. 28, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 101,551

Primary Examiner-Duane A. Reger Attorney-Bedell & Burgess [22] Filed:

g a railway brake gear failure of its normal sup- [52] US. ....l88/210,188/207 [51] Int. Cl. ....B6lh 13/38 two pieces readily assemfacilitateits a and removal from a brake beam.

pplication to [58] Field of Search...............188/206, 207, 210, 213

10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS6 2 77 .111219".M EhXYBEAM-Q-Qu-QLLQJZLQ RAILWAY BRAKE GEAR BOTTOM RODGUARD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The device is a brake gear bottom rodsafety guard of v the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.1,724,255; 2,788,869 and 2,795,300, and comprises an upper mountingmember adapted for ready application to a brake beam, or other truckpart, and a lower stirrup member suspended from the mounting member andaffording support for a bottom rod in the event of its dropping from itsnormal level. The stirrup member may be adjusted vertically on themounting member and is readily applicable to and removable from themounting member to facilitate installation and repair or replacement.

Among the objects of the present device are to facilitate installation,to provide for height adjustment of the guard, to avoid vibration orpounding between the bottom rod and the guard, particularly if the guardis supporting the rod, and to avoid damage from snow, ice or otherobstructions on the roadbed between the rails.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective of a portionof a railway truck brake gear structure showing the safety guard of thepresent invention mounted on the channel section compression element ofa truss type brake beam and underlying a brake gear bottom rod. Theperspective indicates the adjacent lower portion of the truck bolster.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the guard and the beam compression element,and shows the brake beam operating lever and the end of the bottom rod.

FIG. 3 is a vertical section on line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the mounting member of the guard twistedsomewhat from its normal shape for application to the beamchannelelementso as to effect a tension grip when released.

FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 show the, guard mounting member applied to brakebeam compression elements of different section.

FIG. 9 illustrates a modified positioning of the stirru member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The guard is readily applicableto an elongated sup:

port such as the channel compression element of a truss type brake beamhaving a tension element 2 and a strut 3. The guard comprises tworeadily assembled and readily separated members, an upper or mountingmember and a lower or stirrup member 6. Upper member 5 is in the form ofa pair of inverted U-shaped units spaced apart along the brake beam,each having a crossbar 7, overlying brake beam element 1, a relativelyshort leg 8 depending from one end of crossbar 7 and a relatively longleg 9 depending from the other end of crossbar 7. An integral bar 10connects the lower ends of the shorter legs 8. The lower ends of thelonger legs 9 terminate in horizontal extremities ll.

The lower or stirrup member 6 has an upright U shape, and is preferablyformed of a flat-bar, each leg 12 having a double row of holes 13 atstaggered intervals for selective insertion of extremities 11 of themounting member to adjust the height of the stirrup member according tothe height of the bottom rod guard 15 which has a clevis or jaw 16 ateach end pinned at 17 to the lower end of brake lever 18, and is offsetdownwardly between its ends to provide clearance for the truck bolster20, while maintaining the safety guard above the roadbed.

the desired height of the brake lever lower end and of In the event offailure of pin 17 or other support for any portion of the brake gear,bottom rod 15 will drop onto stirrup member 6 which will be free toswing on extremities 11 on the lower ends of legs 9. If the stirrup orbottom contacts an obstruction on the roadbed they may yield lengthwiseof the truck.

The mounting member is readily applied to the brake beam or truck partand the stirrup member is-readily assembled with the upper member at theselected height so as to underlie the bottom rod during normal operationof the gear, but to secure the bottom rod and other brake partsconnected thereto against falling onto the roadbed.

The guard parts may be shipped assembled as shown in FIGS. 1-3. Whenseparated, the mounting member may be dropped over the brake beamcompression member and the stirrup member then applied upwardly frombelow the'frod and hinged on the upper member without removing the,connection between the bottom rod. and brake lever. This is an advantageover a onepiece guard (as shown in the above-mentioned patents) or otherguards which require removal and reassembly of the cotters or retainingpins between the bottom rod and the brake levers.

FIG. 5 shows an angle section beam compression element 25 with a corner26 seated in the recess between two corrugations of a hanger leg 27, andthe outer edge of an elementleg seated against a protuberance 28 in theother leg of the hanger member.

FIG. 6 shows the application of the guard mounting member 31 to aU-shaped beam element 33.

FIG. 7 shows the mounting member 36 applied to a T-shaped beam element38.

7 FIG. 8 shows the mounting member 41 applied to another T-shaped beamcompression element 43.

FIG. 9 shows a modified mounting member 45 with its longer leg 46 andthe stirrup member 47 offset laterally from a beam compression element49 to provide increased clearance between the stirrup member and thebeam element from which it swings.

Other modifications of the details of the structure may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and exclusive use of thosemodifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

I claim:

1. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard formed of two separatemembers and comprising a downwardly opening U-shaped upper member, witha crossbar adapted to overlie a horizontally elongated truck part, andwith depending legs adapted to straddle the truck part, and a separateupwardly opening U- shaped lower member with upwardly extending legssuspended from the legs of said upper member and with a crossbar adaptedto underlie a brake gear bottom rod below the truck part.

2. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 1in which the two members have a pivotal connection to each other and thelower member may swing transversely of the upper member.

3. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 1in which the upper member is a rod with a pair of downwardly extendinglegs spaced apart and having horizontally disposed lower extremities,and the lower member is a flat bar with apertures in its'legs forreceiving said extremities.

4. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 1in which the legs of the lower member have a series of verticallyspaced-apertures for selectively receiving the upper member lowerextremities to vary the height of the lower member.

5. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 3in which the upper member comprises a pair of inverted U-shaped unitsspaced apart horizontally and of different lengths with the horizontalextremities on the legs of the longer unit only and with an integralconnection between the lower ends of the legs of the shorter unit.

6. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 2in which the legs of the upper member are distortable away from eachother when applied to the truck part to yieldingly grip the truck partbetween them.

7. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim '4in which the apertures in each lower member leg are arranged in twovertical rows and the apertures in one row are staggered verticallyrelative to apertures in the other row.

8. In combination, a railway brake beam compression element, a brakelever fulcrumed thereon and extending downwardly therefrom, a brake gearbottom rod connected to the lower end of said lever and extendinghorizontally therefrom for connection to another brake lever, and asafety guard for said bottom rod formed of two separatemembers andcomprising a downwardly open U-shaped mounting member with a crossbaroverlying said beam compression element and with depending legsstraddling said beam compression element, there being an upwardly openstirrup member with upwardly extending legs suspended from the legs ofsaid mounting member and with a crossbar underlying said bottom rod,said stirrup being pivoted on the legs of said mounting member to swingtransversely of the length of said beam compression element.

9. A combination as described in claim 8 in which one leg of themounting member terminates above the level of the bottom rod and thestirrup member suspended from the mounting member underlies the end ofthe bottom rod.

10. A combination as described in claim 9 in which the lowermost part ofthe inverted U-shaped mounting member and the stirrup member suspendedtherefrom are offset laterally from the beam compression element.

1. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard formed of two separatemembers and comprising a downwardly opening U-shaped upper member, witha crossbar adapted to overlie a horizontally elongated truck part, andwith depending legs adapted to straddle the truck part, and a separateupwardly opening U-shaped lower member with upwardly extending legssuspended from the legs of said upper member and with a crossbar adaptedto underlie a brake gear bottom rod below the truck part.
 1. A railwaybrake gear bottom rod safety guard formed of two separate members andcomprising a downwardly opening U-shaped upper member, with a crossbaradapted to overlie a horizontally elongated truck part, and withdepending legs adapted to straddle the truck part, and a separateupwardly opening U-shaped lower member with upwardly extending legssuspended from the legs of said upper member and with a crossbar adaptedto underlie a brake gear bottom rod below the truck part.
 2. A railwaybrake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 1 in which thetwo members have a pivotal connection to each other and the lower membermay swing transversely of the upper member.
 3. A railway brake gearbottom rod safety guard as described in claim 1 in which the uppermember is a rod with a pair of downwardly extending legs spaced apartand having horizontally disposed lower extremities, and the lower memberis a flat bar with apertures in its legs for receiving said extremities.4. A railway brake gear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 1in which the legs of the lower member have a series of vertically spacedapertures for selectively receiving the upper member lower extremitiesto vary the height of the lower member.
 5. A railway brake gear bottomrod safety guard as described in claim 3 in which the upper membercomprises a pair of inverted U-shaped units spaced apart horizontallyand of different lengths with the horizontal extremities on the legs ofthe longer unit only and with an integral connection between the lowerends of the legs of the shorter unit.
 6. A railway brake gear bottom rodsafety guard as described in claim 2 in which the legs of the uppeRmember are distortable away from each other when applied to the truckpart to yieldingly grip the truck part between them.
 7. A railway brakegear bottom rod safety guard as described in claim 4 in which theapertures in each lower member leg are arranged in two vertical rows andthe apertures in one row are staggered vertically relative to aperturesin the other row.
 8. In combination, a railway brake beam compressionelement, a brake lever fulcrumed thereon and extending downwardlytherefrom, a brake gear bottom rod connected to the lower end of saidlever and extending horizontally therefrom for connection to anotherbrake lever, and a safety guard for said bottom rod formed of twoseparate members and comprising a downwardly open U-shaped mountingmember with a crossbar overlying said beam compression element and withdepending legs straddling said beam compression element, there being anupwardly open stirrup member with upwardly extending legs suspended fromthe legs of said mounting member and with a crossbar underlying saidbottom rod, said stirrup being pivoted on the legs of said mountingmember to swing transversely of the length of said beam compressionelement.
 9. A combination as described in claim 8 in which one leg ofthe mounting member terminates above the level of the bottom rod and thestirrup member suspended from the mounting member underlies the end ofthe bottom rod.